CFTC Announces Its Largest Whistleblower Reward (so far . . .)

By Jason Enzler

This week the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) awarded its largest bounty to date to a whistleblower — over $10 million.  The award is the third payment to a whistleblower the CFTC has made under its whistleblower program implemented by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.

The identities of the whistleblower and the defendant(s?) are shielded by law.  The Dodd-Frank Act and rules promulgated under that law protect the confidentiality of the whistleblower from disclosure.

Aitan Goelman, Director of the CFTC’s Enforcement Division, commented:  “By providing robust financial incentives and enhanced protections to whistleblowers, the Commission incentivizes people to come forward with high quality information about serious violations of the law that we might not otherwise uncover.  An award this size shows the importance that the Commission places on incentivizing future whistleblowers.”

The CFTC has previously made two awards to whistleblowers under its program, the most recent amounting to roughly $290,000 in September 2015.  And the CFTC appears to desire an increase in its enforcement of whistleblower actions in the future.  According to Christopher Ehrman, the Director of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office:  “The Whistleblower Program is working. My hope is that this multimillion dollar award will encourage others to come forward with information that will assist the Commission in protecting our markets.”

Click here to read more from the CFTC’s press release.

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